Before and After a Definitive Ingrown Toenail Procedure

Why having your Ingrown Toenail fixed at Ottawa Foot Clinic?

Rest assured your selected ingrown toenail procedure will be performed conservatively enough to preserve the natural outline and width of your nail. We agree 100%. The better we maintain the original appearance of your nail, the better the look of your overall toe and foot will be.

The Doctors of Podiatric Medicine and chiropodists at Ottawa Foot Clinic are thoroughly trained and equipped to diagnose and treat ingrown toenails of all sorts, infected or not! They perform ingrown toenail procedures every day. These are the foot specialists you need to fix your ingrown toenail the gentlest way for the best possible aesthetic results.

We know how crucial a positive and memorable experience is when you write or talk about us. If your surrounding nail tissues are tender to painful to begin with, your foot and nail specialist will gently freeze your toe, just as your dentist would to fix your teeth. Be sure we will completely erase your pain and numb your toe before commencing your treatment.

In the long run, it is always less expensive to address the root cause of any foot, toe and nail condition first. Better and faster results will follow. In a much cheaper way. We also believe that this is our first duty and in your best interest to provide you sound and thorough information before you select and consent to any treatment option. In the end, we are responsible to inform you so you select the treatment option(s) that best suit your needs.

Know what are the best three treatment options for your Ingrown Toenail condition?

Let’s say you have a mild to moderate ingrown toenail condition. With no signs and no history of infection. Your Doctor of Podiatric Medicine and chiropodist may then recommend you take advantage of our Preventive Programme of Periodic Nail Care. During your monthly to quarterly visits, your nails will be selectively thinned down and cut using specialty rotary and nail cutting instruments – duly sterilized and bagged prior to your visit.

Let’s say you are affected with a moderate to severe ingrown toenail. Yet no infection. Your foot specialist may recommend you fix your nail with our Definitive Ingrown Toenail Procedure. No need to cut any skin here! Only the non-sensitive nail sides will be gently cut out under local anesthetics. Once done, phenol is applied to permanently eliminate the root or matrix on each side of the nail. This basically prevents the chemically destroyed nail matrix from growing back the newly removed curved-in nail sides.

Let’s say you have a severe ingrown toenail complicated with a toeskin infection. Because oozing prevents the phenol to chemically destroy the nail matrix, you may be recommended to get instant relief thanks to our gentle Temporary Ingrown Toenail Procedure. Only the ingrown nail sides and roots will be gently cut out from your frozen toe. This will provide you 4 to 6 months to get your nail permanently fixed with the definitive ingrown toenail procedure thanks to the crucial phenolisation step.

You’re right. In most cases, the pain caused by an ingrown toenail will just go away, even if nothing is done. But only for a while. Till one of these days, never at the right time, pain is back. And worse than ever. This time, you can’t even get any relief. You’ve tried home remedies or bathroom surgery like cutting down your nail a bit deeper. Or packing in some cotton or dental floss under the corners of your nail. You stopped running, dancing and stayed away from your most preferred shoes. Nothing helped.

One should never ignore an ingrown toenail. Even if this your very first time. More importantly if it is not the first time that this limiting condition slows you down. Because an ingrown toenail is not going to get better in the long run, if left untreated. It only worsens over time. And one day, your nail will have cut right through your skin. Then that cut will become an open gate for bacterial toe infection!

Our foot specialists are here to help you soon enough to avoid any bacterial infection. Soon enough to avoid the need to take antibiotics. Soon enough to avoid undesirable drug effects and to avoid the build up of body resistance to the prescribed antibiotic.

If you are not twenty any more, it may be crucial to treat any bacterial infection soon enough to avoid spreading. Even a toe infection from an ingrown nail may spread to your foot up. And put your life at risk! Especially if you are diabetic or if you suffer from a reduced blood flow with low tissue oxygenation. Listen to your body signals. Pain, swelling, redness, oozing and unusual odors are all begging you to get your ingrown toenail fixed. Not later. Now!

You may have had a long-standing ingrown toenail condition that you were even not aware of. You never have had pain nor infection. Maybe some very mild on and off soreness from time to time. But you recently noticed some disgraceful discoloration at both corners down to the tip of your big toenail. You now feel quite embarrassed in public showers, yoga or martial arts classes and even when it’s time to go to bed with your loved one. What happened? What can be done to fix this issue?

Skin close to nail borders has the natural capacity to get thicker and harder to avoid being cut. But, in the long run, the harder and thicker skin calluses will push up against the nail sides. Because, each step will create excessive pressure against the curved-in sides of your nail. Soon, thousands of fungal micro-organisms will find their way into these open gates and channels, right under your nail. Your detached nail sides are now invaded and infected by fungi – plural of fungus. Then you have a fungal nail infection – a nail mycosis or onychomycosis. Your ‘’nail fungus” was caused by your long-standing and heavily callused ingrown toenail condition!

A callused-protected ingrown toenail condition may stay pretty much without pain for decades. Simply because the heavily callused skin can never be cut by the excessively curved-in nail sides. No cut in your skin, no pain and no bacterial toe infection. But your weakened and detached nail sides will sooner or later be infected with fungal micro-organisms. This why your doctor of podiatric medicine and chiropodist may recommend you get a Definitive Ingrown Toenail Procedure done first.

If your fungal nail infection is mild, then your foot specialist may recommend you revaluate your nail condition 6 months down the road. He will then determine the need of having a series of antifungal nail laser treatment.

If you have a severe onychomycosis involving more than 50% of your nail, then your foot specialist may recommend you have a series of antifungal laser treatments performed just a few weeks after your Definitive Ingrown Toenail Procedure.

Many patients, aware of their disgraceful nail fungus, are asking our foot specialist to initiate their series of antifungal laser treatments right away. Despite our recommendation to first address their unnoticed ingrown toenail condition. Since they never had pain nor infection, they perceived the recommended Definitive Ingrown Toenail Procedure as being too expensive and invasive.

In the long run, we firmly believe it is far less expensive to address the root cause first. Better and faster results. And cheaper. We also believe that this is our first duty and in your best interest to provide you sound and thorough information before you select and consent to any treatment option.

In the end, we are responsible to inform you so you select the treatment option(s) that best suit your needs.

What make nails to get ingrown?

Many aggravating factors usually act all together, in an additive mode, over a long period of time, before you suddenly wake up with a sore ingrown toenail condition. The irritated and inflamed toe may not only slow you down and restrict your shoe selection. Most importantly, an untreated ingrown toenail may put your toe (and foot) at risk of developing a bacterial infection. Not to forget that it may also weaken your nail till it gets disfigured by a repulsive fungal infection!

Are your feet overpronate, overly collapse or flatten whenever standing, walking or running? If so, this affects your gait in transferring too much pressure into your inner ankle, foot and big toe. Undue lateral pressure on the sides of your big toe may progressively affect the shape of your nail in increasing its curvature over time.

Did you recently cut the corners of your nail a bit too short? Then ground pressure may have pushed up the skin at the tip of your toe. When your nail tried to grow back into its normal position, it was stopped by the newly formed tissue bump. You just created a brand new ingrown toenail condition due to excessive nail trimming.

Have you ever worn narrow, pointed, short and high heeled shoes? Or played with tight soccer cleats, ski boots or running shoes hard enough to end-up with black toes? Cumulative nail bed damages may become permanent and may lead to excessive nail curvature. Until you develop a sore ingrown toenail condition.

Bunions, hammer or hypercontracted toes and bone spur at the tip of a toe are all aggravating factors able to trigger a sore ingrown toenail episode.

Ingrown Nail

When should you fix your appointment to have your toenail condition assessed?

Your big toe is sore, red or swollen

You have noticed some oozing and malodor on the sides of your big toenail

Your big toenail had shown some on and off tenderness for the last few weeks or months

Your sore toe did recently limit your shoe selection or activities

You are now pain-free. But in the last few years, you have had many episodes of ingrown toenail crisis and pain. You recently noticed that the sides of your big toenail are slowly getting matt white to yellow.

What’s best to do at home to ease your pain before meeting with your foot specialist?

Soak the tender area and foot into a lukewarm to cold solution made from 2 tablespoons of Epsom salts or liquid soap and 1 litre of water. Soak for 15 minutes. Repeat 2 to 3 times a day.

Apply ice for 10 minutes. Repeat every hour if need be.

Only wear open sandals or shoes wide enough not to create any friction or compression.

You may take one or two Tylenol extra-strength (dosage needs to follow recommendations for children)